Hello just a quick question does anybody use these low energy diode light boards during winter or is it a waste of money buying a cheap set thanks Stephen
Led lights
- Thread starter Stephen williams
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They work fine. As to cheap or not the mechanical side may require you to get at least a par meter, as the plant you grow varies from others in its needs. Starting a seedling with its small mass is low energy, but some of the tomato plants in my garden are 8 feet tall and their mass requires more energy. Judging the final scope of a mature indoor garden is the key to success.
Terms like "watts per meter squared" will go with the territory. And questions like "what is the W/M² at my local weather reporting station?" will be part of your design. But that information is readily available in the climate data collected everyday. For example below from weatherspark.com is a airport climate report for uv and visible light energy.
To recreate the sun in a small way grab a calculator and a tape measure. Just be aware of the distance reduction the par meters and lumen meters will show you from a light source. 20 feet away,10, 5, 2 feet etc will impact W/M². This goes toward the number of lights you need to buy for your purpose and their vertical or horizontal mounting.
The full spectrum of the LED is important too, as different visible colors impact energy, each color of light being a different temperature basically. The color of an eggplant versus a tomato speak to this evolutionary relationship of plants to light. Plant colors are reflected not absorbed. The colors you see are frequencies or nanometer ranges they do not want usually for cooling reasons.
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